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A little over a year ago, Dell debuted a then-quite-impressive little 13-inch laptop called the XPS 13. Aimed at the part of the business market that's become increasingly enamored of the MacBook Air and Windows ultrabooks, the XPS 13 was technically geared toward business customers, but with lots of stylistic flourishes and compact appeal. It was like a Windows MacBook Air, but with less impressive battery life. We called it the "Dellbook Air."

The XPS 13 is back for a second go in 2013, but it doesn't seem to have gotten the "Windows 8 touch" memo. Yes, it now has third-gen Intel Core i5/i7 processors, two USB 3.0 ports, and a higher-resolution 1080p screen. But a touch display? No.

Last year, we said this about the XPS 13's main drawbacks: "A limited port selection doesn't include HDMI or an SD card slot; the display should be better; and battery life falls behind other slim laptops." The new XPS 13 adds a fancy 1080p screen and gains a little more battery life, but that screen option will cost you: the 1080p version costs $1,299.

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Can you live without touch on a laptop? Do you like the idea of a tweaked version of last year's XPS 13 in the current laptop world? There's really nothing wrong with what this new Dell XPS 13 brings to the table, but it's expensive, a bit heavy compared with other ultrabooks, and it lacks touch, which should be a major consideration when moving to Windows 8. Call it an old-fashioned ultrabook.

The Dell XPS 13 might have been one of the best-designed Dells since the Adamo. Soft-touch finishes, an elegant keyboard, sleek metal, and solid construction give instantly strong first impressions. The new XPS 13 isn't much different, and it still presents itself well.

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Its footprint is smaller than a 13-inch MacBook Air, giving it something of the feel of a 12-inch laptop. The narrower footprint feels right, and the keyboard hasn't been compromised. A magnetic hinge opens smoothly, and the lid has just enough bezel to provide finger room to open and close, while maxing out screen real estate.

Did I say the XPS 13 seemed heavy and thick? Maybe that's unfair. It actually weighs an even 3 pounds, which is lighter than the 13-inch Air. It's 0.71 inch thick at its thickest point, tapering down to the other end. That's certainly slim and light enough for a 13-inch ultrabook, but the XPS 13 may be a psychological victim of its own small (for a 13-inch) footprint. It feels almost like an 11-inch Air in terms of dimensions, but the 11-inch Air is indeed lighter.

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Lining up the new XPS 13 with last year's, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. So, our opinion stays the same, cosmetically: the backlit keyboard is comfortable and spacious, and the multitouch clickable touch pad has ample finger room.

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Ah, but now the spectre of Windows 8 casts its shadow. Windows 8 is a touch-oriented OS. It's arguably not necessary, but you'll miss it on many of Microsoft's native apps. That touch pad is your lone tool to interface via touch at all, and in this case, it's just not as responsive as better versions out there. In particular, off-edge swipe gestures, which can be used to bring up Windows 8 functions, are hard to pull off.

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The best -- and worst -- new feature of this XPS 13 is its 13-inch 1080p Gorilla Glass-covered display: it's crisp, bright, vivid, and looks great at all angles. It's a big step up compared to the average laptop, and better than the display on the MacBook Air. But not all XPS 13 models have it: step-down versions have 1,366x768-pixel displays, which I didn't test. That 1080p on a 13-inch screen used to look crammed, but the nice thing about Windows 8 is that its new tile interface and full-screen apps generally take advantage of higher-res smaller screens in ways that don't shrink and cram text and buttons down like Windows 7 did. It's a better experience.

But, I'll say it once again: there's no touch screen. I harp on that because this is a $1,600 computer, and there are touch ultrabooks out there for half that price. That may not matter to some people, but in the Windows 8 world, ultrabooks are routinely getting touch-screen makeovers without great cost. Top-end laptops are starting to have touch by default. The Dell XPS 13's lack of touch just feels like an oversight. At this price, it should at least have a touch-screen option. In a Windows 8 world, touch is just too potentially useful to completely ignore.

The 0.9-megapixel Webcam takes grainy pictures, and isn't as good as others I've seen.

Dell XPS 13 (2013)

Average for category [13-inch]

Video

Mini DisplayPort

HDMI or DisplayPort

Audio

Stereo speakers, combo headphone/microphone jack

Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks

Data

2 USB 3.0

2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, SD card reader

Networking

802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Optical drive

None

DVD burner

Ports, configurations, performance
The ports are sparse indeed on the XPS 13: two USB 3.0 ports and a Mini DisplayPort. No HDMI, no Ethernet, not even an SD card slot. I can forgive the first two, but not the third. There's plenty of room.

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This XPS 13 review unit is the highest-end model, the surf-and-turf of Dell's fleet: Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, 1080p display, for $1,599. The lowest-end XPS 13 starts at $999, and has more-standard specs: Core i5, 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD, but only a 1,366x768-pixel display. You can mix and match specs to some degree, but for 1080p you have to step up to a $1,299 model with 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. Sure, that sort of matches a MacBook Air, but it's hard to swallow for a PC -- especially one that lacks a touch screen.

The Core i7-3537 CPU is a little faster than the Core i7-3517 in the step-down 720p models, and handled as well as you'd expect a top-end, third-gen Intel ultrabook processor to perform. It's one of the fastest we've tested in our benchmarks, but not by a huge degree. You're still stuck with Intel HD 4000 graphics, which are fine for most purposes but, at this price, fall short of serious PC graphics power.

Dell XPS 13 (January 2013)

Quick Specifications

About The Author

Scott Stein is a senior editor covering iOS and laptop reviews, mobile computing, video games, and tech culture. He has previously written for both mainstream and technology enthusiast publications including Wired, Esquire.com, Men's Journal, and Maxim, and regularly appears on TV and radio talking tech trends.